Twitter

Councillor pleads to keep biz in city [Sudbury industrial parks upgrades] – by Mike Whitehouse (Sudbury Star – March 23, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The city should borrow up to $60 million to carry out its industrial lands strategy, Ward 8 Coun. Fabio Belli says.

Addressing a group of irate businessmen in the Elisabella Street industrial area of New Sudbury, Belli said every possible solution should be on the table for the city to help local businesses expand and create jobs — including going into debt.

The group of a dozen irate property owners along Elisabella had gathered to mull a 50-50 cost-sharing proposal for improving services that would see many of them going into debt themselves.

The Elisabella and Lasalle Boulevard area is the first of seven industrial areas the city plans to upgrade, banking on growth in the construction and mining supply and service sectors. The area has more than 450 acres of land zoned M3, of which 250 acres are vacant.

Read more

Ecuador Indians march against mining on their lands – by Gonzalo Solano (Globe and Mail – March 23, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

QUITO— The Associated Press – The lands of the Shuar Indians in the Ecuadoran Amazon are rich in wildlife such as tapirs, toucans and red howler monkeys. They also hold treasures more coveted by outsiders: rich deposits of copper and other minerals that the government is eager to cash in on.
 
Projects to build open-pit mines that would rip into their forest-covered hills have spawned a protest movement that sets leaders of the ethnic group against the country’s popular president, Rafael Correa, who says development is essential to the future of this nation’s 14 million people.
 
More than 1,000 indigenous protesters reached Ecuador’s capital on Thursday after a two-week, 700-kilometre march from the Amazon to oppose plans for large-scale mining projects on their lands.

Read more

TransCanada looks east as Gateway pipeline gets bogged down – by Nathan Vanderklippe and Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – March 23, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

CALGARY, OTTAWA— TransCanada Corp. is proposing a major shift in the way oil moves across Canada, urging the oil patch to consider a massive $5.6-billion new pipeline system that would carry large volumes of western crude to refineries in Ontario, Quebec and beyond.

The East Coast Pipeline Project, as TransCanada has dubbed it in presentations to energy companies, could do more than supply the east with fuels made from oil sands crude. It could serve as an alternative to Northern Gateway, the controversial West Coast export pipeline project from TransCanada competitor Enbridge Inc. that has faced a wall of opposition from first nations and environmental groups.

The TransCanada proposal would send 625,000 barrels a day across the country to Montreal, Quebec City and potentially Saint John, N.B., where Irving Oil Ltd. runs a large refinery. Tanker exports could then also take the crude to Europe or Asia.

The proposal is conceptual, and the company has not disclosed public details about a project that may never be built.

Read more

[Northern Ontario] English River logging suspended during court battle – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – March 23, 2012)

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

The Ontario government has agreed to suspend logging north of the English River in a territory five times the size of Toronto as an 11-year legal fight winds its way through the courts.

Last August, the Ontario Superior Court ruled the province does not have the power to take away treaty rights negotiated over 150 years ago by allowing industrial activity without the consent of Grassy Narrows First Nation. The decision is being appealed and is expected to be heard this fall.

But while all commercial logging cannot occur in the Grassy Narrows traditional area north of the river without the community’s consent, it can south of the river, said David Sone, a spokesperson for the environmental organization Earthroots.

“The people of Grassy Narrows and First Nations across the province have suffered for decades for decisions imposed on them and their land without their agreement,” Sone said.

Read more

How Ottawa runs on oil – by Paul Wells (Maclean’s Magazine – March 23, 2012)

http://www2.macleans.ca/

Suddenly Western money and influence are driving everything that happens in the nation’s capital

In July 2006 Stephen Harper had been Prime Minister for half a year and it was time to deliver his first speech to a foreign business audience. He picked a friendly crowd, the Canada-U.K. Chamber of Commerce in London. He told them British investors were taking notice of “Canada’s emergence as a global energy powerhouse—the emerging ‘energy superpower’ our government intends to build.”
 
Canada, he said, was the world’s fifth-largest energy producer, ranking third in gas production and seventh in oil production. Canada was the world’s largest supplier of hydroelectric power and uranium. “But that’s just the beginning.”
 
There was “an ocean of oil-soaked sand” in northern Alberta, more than in any country except Saudi Arabia. Getting it out would be “an enterprise of epic proportions, akin to the building of the pyramids or China’s Great Wall. Only bigger.”

Fast forward to late last year. The future Harper described in London had become a reality. The oil sands were producing so much oil that the biggest challenge was simply to get the stuff to market.

Read more

2012 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Award Winners Videos [ALL VIDEOS IN THIS SINGLE POSTING]

Bill Dennis Award for a Canadian discovery or prospecting success

(L to R) Scott Jobin-Bevans, outgoing PDAC President; Gerald Panneton, President and CEO of Detour Gold Corporation

http://www.pendaproductions.com/ This video was produced by PENDA Productions, a full service production company specializing in Corporate Communications with a focus on Corporate Responsibility.

This award, named for a former president of the association, honours individuals who have accomplished one or both of the following: made a significant mineral discovery; made an important contribution to the prospecting and/or exploration industry. The award may also be used to recognize an important mineral discovery in Canada.

Gerald Panneton, president and CEO of Detour Gold Corp., receives this award for his leadership of the team that has advanced the Detour Lake property in northern Ontario into a world-class, low-grade, high tonnage gold deposit. Panneton spearheaded the initial acquisition and subsequent evaluation of what is now determined to be Canada’s largest undeveloped gold deposit. Recognizing the potential of Detour Lake in 2006, Panneton commissioned a large-scale drilling and re-sampling program. By the end of 2010, the project had proven and probable open pit reserves of 14.9 M oz of gold. Detour Gold Corp. is now moving ahead with the development of the project. 

Read more

[Ontario] First Nations seek power in development – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – March 22, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper and Brian MacLeod is the managing editor. brian.macleod@sunmedia.ca

It was a brief release on the website of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. More telling, it was released on March 4 — a Sunday. It looks like the medium was the message. In this case, that message is trouble for the Liberals.

The release announced that 23,000 square kilometres of land in the northwestern corner of Ontario were being withdrawn from prospecting and mining to “give clarity to the province’s mineral exploration industry and avoid future disagreements over the land in question.”

That clarity was required after a showdown between the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation and God’s Lake Resources, a junior exploration company. And KI won hands down.

Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci said KI “clearly isn’t ready to enter into an agreement … so we believe it was better for all concerned if we withdrew those lands.”

Read more

Québec plans to pluck and invest in the golden goose of mining – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – March 22, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

While soaring mining taxation will pluck a few more feathers off the mining golden goose, the Québec government plans to shoulder some risk in exchange for higher fiscal rewards.

RENO (MINEWEB) – As Minister of Finance Raymond Bachand presented his budget Tuesday, he observed, “Like all peoples who possess such [abundant natural] resources, Québecers want to maximum their benefits,” partially by collecting more than Cdn$4 billion in mining royalties over the next decade.
 
A new mining regime will help accomplish these goals through gross royalties collected on mining, forestry and water-power than will reach $1.2 billion in 2011-2012.
 
“During the 10 years that preceded the reform of the royalties regime, mining companies paid a total of $289 million in royalties to Québec. Over the next 10 years they will pay more than $4 billion. That is 14 times more,” Banchard observed.
 
To encourage more ore processing in the province, the provincial government will apply an investment tax credit to assets used to smelt or refine metals, and for hydrometallurgy, the minister announced.

Read more

China eyes Canadian uranium mines – by Shirley Won (Globe and Mail – March 22, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Takeover activity is poised to heat up in the Canadian uranium sector as energy-hungry China hunts for feedstock to fuel its growing family of nuclear reactors.

The state-controlled China Daily recently reported that the country plans to buy more uranium mines abroad, and is looking in Canada. China also expects to import more uranium this year as its nuclear program resumes after being halted following Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster.

China has 15 reactors in operation and 25 under construction, and plans to build another 50. It imports nearly all its uranium from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Namibia and Australia.

“It comes as a surprise” that China is showing its hand by publicly targeting this country’s miners, which could boost the prices of potential acquisitions, said Versant Partners analyst Rob Chang.

Read more

Quebec’s new budget is business as usual [Resources Quebec] – by Tasha Kheiriddin (National Post – March 22, 2012)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose. Once again, the Quebec government is championing government intervention as the cure for the province’s economic malaise.
 
On Tuesday, provincial finance minister Raymond Bachand presented the province’s 2012-13 budget. After digging Quebecers into a deep financial hole — a whopping $184-billion debt, representing 55% of provincial GDP — the government is promising to dig a few more, in the form of multi-billion dollar mining projects, in which it will take an equity stake. Mr. Bachand credits former Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau with the idea: “It comes down to what Mr. Parizeau said … we have to make sure we get a share of the business.”

The mining proposals form part of Premier Jean Charest’s “Plan Nord,” an ambitious northern-development proposal that brings back memories of the massive Hydro Quebec developments at James Bay in the 1970’s. To help develop the north and exploit the province’s abundant mineral resources, the government is setting-up Resources Québec, a new Crown corporation that will oversee a $1.2-billion equity portfolio. And assuming commodity prices remain high, the government expects to collect $4-billion in mining royalties over the next 10 years.

Read more

[Canadian] Mining sector expects hiring boom – by Paul Brent (Globe and Mail – March 22, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

These are high times for the mining business. It has shrugged off the effects of the 2008 recession on the strength of robust commodity prices. Canada is well-positioned to supply the resource-hungry economies of China and India, our markets are the preferred destination for companies seeking financing, and the industry has $137-billion worth of investment earmarked for the next five years.

What could go wrong? Simply put, running out of people to run the nation’s $36-billion-a-year mining machine.
 
“There is a huge shift in demographics in the country, in the mining industry, and we are certainly experiencing it in our company,” said Marcia Smith, senior vice-president of sustainability and external affairs at Teck Resources Ltd.
 
The Vancouver-based coal and copper producer, which employs more than 8,000 people across the country, plans to hire 4,600 people over the next few years.

Read more

Provinces’ budgets get a lifeline from resource royalties – by Barrie McKenna (Globe and Mail – March 22, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

OTTAWA— China is becoming a key line item in the budgets of Canada’s resource-rich provinces.

From Alberta and Saskatchewan in the West to Quebec in the East, China’s thirst for commodities such as oil, fertilizer and iron ore is no longer just about jobs and economic activity – the gusher of royalties is also helping provinces balance, and even pad, their books.

On Wednesday, Saskatchewan unveiled a budget with a small surplus for 2012-13 thanks to sharply higher oil and potash royalties. Potash will bring in $705-million, up 36 per cent from last year. Oil will generate another $1.6-billion in royalties, up 8 per cent. Saskatchewan now gets nearly 30 per cent of its revenue from various resource royalties.

Quebec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand predicted on Tuesday that royalties from the province’s booming mining industry will grow nearly tenfold over the next decade, putting $4-billion into provincial coffers.

Read more

Duluth sets Bechtel parameters for 100 year copper-nickel-pgm mine PFS – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – March22, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

Duluth Metals’ huge copper-nickel-pgm-gold resource on the Duluth complex in northern Minnesota moves on a stage with top engineering company Bechtel being given the parameters on which to base a PFS

HONG KONG (Mineweb) –  Talking to Duluth Metals Chairman and CEO, Chris Dundas at Mines & Money Hong Kong he remains extremely enthusiastic about his monster mining project in Northern Minnesota, USA which, if and when it comes to fruition, will become one of the world’s great underground mining operations with a mine life probably well in excess of 100 years.

Top engineering company Bechtel has been retained to undertake the preparation of the NI 43-101 Prefeasibility Study (PFS) on the initial project based primarily on the Nokomis section of this vast resource and the parameters under which Bechtel has been instructed give a great indication of the scale of operations envisaged.

Bechtel has thus been instructed to prepare its study based on the following:

Read more

$5B rail line to boost Quebec resources – by Nicolas Van Praet (National Post – March 22, 2012)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

MONTREAL – It rated just a six-paragraph mention among hundreds of pages of Quebec government budget documents. But it will be one of Canada’s largest infrastructure projects when it gets off the ground – a multibillion-dollar effort to build a huge railway across an isolated stretch of rugged land and accelerate the province’s push into natural resources.

Canadian National Railway Co. and pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec are teaming up on an estimated $5-billion project to lay down a new track stretching 800 kilometres from the port of Sept-Îles north past Shefferville into the mines of the Labrador Trough. The aim is to serve major iron ore producers like Cliffs Natural Resources and juniors like Adriana Resources Inc., as well as other current and potential miners, that are searching for a better way to get their Quebec-produced material to international markets.

The project is in its early stages but is expected to be completed by 2017 if talks underway with mining companies yield firm transport agreements. Once those commitments are reached, the railway will do a feasibility study.

Read more

Quebec banking on big windfall from mining royalties: provincial budget – by Andy Blatchford (Canadian Business Magazine – March 20, 2012)

Founded in 1928, Canadian Business is the longest-publishing business magazine in Canada.

The Canadian Press 

QUEBEC – The Quebec government is banking on a royalty bonanza from its natural-resources sector to help Canada’s most indebted province begin its long climb out of the red.

In releasing its 2012-13 budget Tuesday, Quebec revealed that its path to prosperity hinges on whether it can cash in on its abundance of minerals, forests and hydroelectricity.

The document calls for a $1.5-billion deficit in 2012-13, but says the government remains on track to fulfil its long-held pledge to balance the budget by 2013-14.

The budget, possibly the last for an unpopular Premier Jean Charest before the next election, also tries to strike a positive populist tone for voters: no new tax hikes or user fees.

In the next election — which must be called before the end of 2013 — Charest will likely portray himself as a sound economic manager, while at the same time hammering away at the uncertainty of sovereignty.

Read more